Hi, there, everyone. Whew, what a rollercoaster few days I’ve had! The free giveaway on Kindle is over, with 3,974 copies given away. It’s only been a few days, so it’s too early to give you a full report, but I got my first new review just two days into the giveaway, and boy, what a gem it was!

This is a huge relief, as free giveaways are apparently notorious for attracting bad reviews – people grab freebies without regard to genre, read them, don’t “get them”, and feel disappointed enough to complain. I hope more will come in the next couple of weeks as I have actually seen a huge spike in KENP – more than 2,500 pages read over the last four days. If it was anyone reading this, could you please post a review on Amazon? Apparently I need to get to about 60 to attract BookBub’s attention, and I’m now at 33.

I have no explanation for this KENP spike, by the way. I have contacted Amazon and they have confirmed that during free days people with KU get my book outright – so why such an influx? Sadly, I shall never know, as I have now taken Shizzle, Inc off Kindle Select – I plan to make it permafree in about a month, to celebrate the preorder launch of Indiot.

Speaking of which, I would like to get about 3-5 beta readers for Indiot, is anyone interested? This would be different from an Advanced Review Copy – if you’ve registered for my Permanent ARC list (see the floating banner to the right), you will automatically get a copy. This is more about helping me work through the current draft. I myself have never been a beta reader, and I have not done that with Shizzle, Inc, but I’ve given some thought to who I’d like to help me:

Beta readers get to read and privately review a book before it is copyedited. This could be exciting, or disappointing, depending on how you look at it. You will not have a chance to be surprised at reading the finished book. (By the way, each beta reader will get an autographed paper copy as a thank you, when it’s released in July.)

You generally like humor and chicklit, and you’ve read Shizzle, Inc and liked it enough. If you didn’t “get” it, you will probably be disappointed with Indiot. Not only the storyline relies on the knowledge of the previous events, it is similarly unrealistic and off the wall. That’s just what I do…

You will have time to read about 70,000 words in the first two weeks of May. Sorry for the tight timeline, but I’m only looking for a high-level review, there would be no need to do copyediting – I will hire a professional editor to do that.

You would be willing to critique my work in a constructive way – “this is shit” and “this is perfect” would be equally unhelpful. I’m looking for things like “this did not make sense” and “why did she do X when she said Y just before?” and maybe “you should develop the scene Z more.”

I would give preference to Americans. Sorry! It will depend on how many people express interest, but I might have to make this call, as the novel is set in the US and I need all the help I can get, being a Russian-Down-Under. By the way, comments such as “Americans would say bla-bla instead of blah-di-blah” would be very welcome.

Sorry for the #5. On the more inclusive side, any gender or age is welcome. I’m still blown away by how many guys have left reviews on Amazon – could this be the beginnings of dudelit?

This is all I could think of – if you have any questions or suggestions, please ask away! If you want to beta-read Indiot, please email me on ana.spoke (AT) yahoo.com.

Just a quick comment on Giveaways. I did one recently for a paperback, not an ebook, and found that one of the winners runs a second hand book business on eBay, and yes, you guessed it, my book appeared for sale in his page! I doubt he had time to read it, but there you go, s*** happens!

I did ask him what he thought of the book, and whether he had time to write a review. give him credit, he did and it was very flattering. but it only happened because I followed up.

Glad your giveaway went well! I wish I could be a beta reader but I haven’t read the first book yet. I also am not very good at giving specific feedback. I hope you can find amazing beta readers who will give you great feedback 🙂

Hi Ana. It’s good your reaching out to Beta readers, so long as they do add constructive criticism, that is (as you pointed out in #4). Now, based on my review of Shizzle, Inc., I’m not sure you’d want me to participate as a Beta reader, but if for whatever reason you don’t find who you’re looking for, I would be happy to Beta read Indiot. Just let me know for sure and I’ll send you an email. Who knows, my perspective may give you insight into a different side of things that you wouldn’t have thought otherwise.

Hi, Bryan, actually, I would very much like for you to beta read – your review of Shizzle, Inc was critical, but constructive and it seems that you’ve enjoyed it while finding things to improve. Would you be able to do it within the first two weeks of May?

Ana, I would enjoy being one of your beta readers. I’ll be on the road in May, but there are a lot of down hours out there, perfect for reading. Let me know. I am not registered at Amazon or anywhere else, if that matters …

Thank you very much for offering! Maybe next time, then – I hope this will be a worthwile learning experience for me. Have you read and reviewed Shizzle, Inc? If so, sign up for my permanent ARC list, and I will send you and ARC before the book is released to the general public.

That would be awesome, thank you! Unfortunately its a must before reading the second. If you do get to read it by June, I would be more than happy to send you an ARC (aiming for late June release of ARC and early July release to the general public).

So, I was going through some of the other blogger comments on beta-reading requests. One was from Ghagri. And, that’s going to rush my reading now:), in a good way. I am an American with Indian background. Been here…almost 40 years. Yaz

Hi Ana! I’d love to and I had intended to because I understand you have an Indian component to it. But though I bought Shizzle Inc I haven’t got around to reading it yet. And also I am not American, alas!
Maybe we can exchange beta reads in the future!

Hi Gargi – actually, I would love for you to read it, since I’ve never been to India and also because I’d love your input into Indian names I chose and a few Indian words I’ve used in the dialogue. Even if you’d rather read Shizzle, Inc first, I’d love for you to read a draft at any point before mid-June. What do you think?